OK…so, I’ve been doing the 21 day Spending Freeze with the Forget About the Joneses Project now for 19 days. 

I’ve spent a little and saved a lot.  Step 9 is Reflection….or determining what I have learned during my money fast.  The idea isn’t entirely the ’saving’…it is to learn about my spending habits and revise as necessary.

It has been at times harrowing (dragging myself by the hair out of Target, for example), at times rewarding (did you read the money saved in the last post????  I’m over $400 for the month)

I’ve learned it was easier than I thought to pass up the little stuff: the occasional soda, the icee mocha.  It was easier than I knew to ‘take stock’ before I head out the door so I don’t buy something we already have.  I bet taking stock has accounted for at least 40% of my savings.

It was harder than I thought to ‘walk away’ from my prior self….you know the girl who grabbed the magazine or book she’d been wanting to read and just dropped it in the cart.  Harder to check my pride at the door and not purchase new placemats or pillows when company is coming over.

I am proud of the creativity I’ve accessed within myself….for doing a little decorating, for present giving and for playing with the kids. (we haven’t visited one play event that required money….though we are going to the zoo tomorrow – but I’ve learned to pack a lunch and drinks….so, since the zoo is free, we won’t need to spend any money!)  The warmer weather has really helped in this department.

I’m a little nervous about my prior self dancing a jig right now..wanting to go back to ‘normal’.  But, my husband has been so thrilled…I think I can keep myself in check.    In truth, he really thought this was all about saving…but I explained that I am trying to bridge the financial divide that exists between us.

We were raised with such different understandings and relationships with money.  I believed ‘want’ and ‘need’ were closely related, credit cards were ok and ‘it will all work out’.  He was raised to save, to walk away instead of buy if he didn’t have the cash, and to prepare for the future.  We were both extremes and are working towards a middle ground….but a big part of that middle ground is my recognition of the way we want to teach our children about money.

I want them to respect it, to be grateful for the opportunity to earn it and to think long and hard before they part with it.  So, here I am, practicing what I intend to preach.

The next Step – Step 10 – is to begin tracking my spending – all of it.  I have to do it for the next 6 weeks.  In the mean time, Step 11 is a modified Spending Freeze (this is all, of course, assuming I can make it to day 21 – midnight on Thursday!)  The modified Spending Freeze means I can purchase things we ‘want’  that we can afford, but no impulse buying.  If I want it, I have to come home, write it down and see if it is still something we want the next day.

Wish me luck.

Of course, you can start this procss yourself by heading over to MommySavers.com

And, don’t forget to visit us at www.ExtraordinaryMommy.com